Monday, December 31, 2007

In Defense of Libertarianism

Critics are wrong to trace the origins of libertarianism to Horatio Alger's "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" 19th-century philosophy of rugged individualism, or "social darwinism." Some libertarians call themselves "classical liberals," referring not to hippies of the 1960s, but to centuries-old political thinkers who valued freedom and equality and hated mercantilism and the arbitrary rule of the privileged class.The true roots of libertarianism lie in the Jewish and Greek ideas of a higher law that governs everyone, even the ruler. Then there were 17th-century thinkers like John Locke and John Milton who defended equality, free speech, and religious tolerance. Activists in the fight against slavery, such as William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, also believed in libertarian theories of human rights. So did early defenders of women's rights, such as Sarah Grimke and Mary Wollstonecraft. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are libertarian documents based on the view that government is built by the consent of the governed and exists only to protect individual rights. They created and support a system that will - in general - result in higher standards of living for more people than does government intervention.Ok, people in Iowa and New Hampshire, vote accordingly.